Martin began nursing at the Manchester Royal Infirmary gaining post-qualification experience in acute, intensive care, haematology and finally mental health nursing.
His Nursing Power and Social Judgement, Ashgate, Aldershot (1997) examined the social context of a hospital ward, offering insights into the way that nurses and their patients negotiate, or struggle, for the power to achieve their goals through judgemental labelling. His book Research Ethics in the Real World (co-edited with Tony Long) published by Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone in January 2007 takes a radical consequential approach to real life research ethics and governance problems.
Martin has published widely on a range of educational, clinical and ethical issues.